Overdue Update

Yes, we are still alive.  Sorry it’s been so long since we last updated the site, but things have been quite hectic since Halloween.

In early November I started my new job at NiSC.  It’s been a little slow-going thanks to the holidays, but I’m starting to find my niche and I think it’s going to be a good thing in the long run.  Just don’t ask me what it is exactly I do, because it’s really strange and even if I explained it you still wouldn’t understand.  I have a feeling that’s sort of what my jobs are going to be like for pretty much the rest of my career.

Of course with November came Harper’s first Thanksgiving.  We spent one weekend at “The Farm” in Fisher with that whole side of the family and the actual Turkey Day here in St. Peters with Grandpa Schumacher.  Harper had turkey, peas, and even tried a little mashed potatoes.  She loved it.

December brought Christmas, which was very fun as you might imagine.  Once again we spent a weekend in Fisher, and Christmas Eve and Day here in St. Peters.  As with most kids, Harper was more interested in the boxes she received than the presents inside, but she still enjoyed the festivities.

Nothing much really happened in January, so there’s really no point in even mentioning it, so let’s just move on.

Ok, ok, maybe I exaggerated a little bit there.  I guess something important happened in January - Andrea turned 27 and Harper turned 1! We had a very low-key birthday party, complete with an awesome monkey-shaped cake made by Andrea. We only had Grandma and Grandpa Lammle, Grandma Joan, Marvin, and Aunt Kris here to watch Harper destroy her piece of birthday cake, but they got quite a show as you’ll see in the VIP photos.

As for our little treasure/terror, Harper is growing like a weed.

She currently has six teeth (4 up top, 2 on the bottom) and uses them to eat just about everything we give her. Andrea got a great recipe for these weird little broccoli nuggets from Aunt Leigh, and Harper could pretty much eat them at every meal. She also loves milk, animal crackers, grilled cheese, bananas, cheddar bunnies, and Andrea’s homemade, organic blueberry waffles. Like I said, she eats just about anything we put in front of her.

She is also walking everywhere nowadays. She stands up by herself and dawdles along like a little drunk man; it’s pretty cute. This, of course, means she’s starting to get into everything and is sometimes pretty tough to keep up with. We’re going to have our hands pretty full over the next year.

With all this walking and otherwise non-stop motion, the day we thought would never come has finally arrived - Harper sleeps in her crib from 7pm until 7am!  We still check on her about a half-dozen times, but that’s a small price to pay for 12 solid hours of rest for us all.

Recently we had a nice big snow down here in MO and it was Harper’s first time to check it out.  Andrea bundled her up in her heavy coat and way-too-cute Winnie the Pooh stocking cap and they got to wander through the flakes.  We have some great pictures of the event in the VIP section that are easily some of our favorite photos yet.

Other than that, life goes on one day at a time. We’re looking forward to another great year of watching our little girl grow and we’re going to continue to document things here as often as possible. Thanks for reading!  Now go check out the VIP section, which is why you’re all here anyway…